Get ready Genoa City! Tomorrow, Mackenzie "Mac" Browning reappears on the canvas in the form of former L Word star, Clementine Ford. Best known for her role as Molly Kroll and as the eldest daughter of Hollywood favorite Cybill Shepherd, Clementine's foray into daytime is one of the most highly anticipated of the soap season.
For those who need a refresher course on MacaEUR| she is the ex-girlfriend of Billy Abbott, who ran away to Darfur when it was revealed that they were cousins (shortly after they were married). Well, new DNA results this week involving her grandmother and Billy's mother will cause a seismic shift in relationships... and the drama begins!
However, in real life, Clementine has gone through drama of another kind. A recent interview with Diva UK Magazine, whose cover headline touted: "Clementine Ford Comes Out" left a bit of mess for the actress to clean up. The interview intimated that she slept with one of her L Word co-stars (she didn't) and put the subject of her sexuality center stage: "I am gay," she tells Advocate.com, "I just wanted there not to be this big emphasis on it."
Advocate.com chatted with Clementine about her exciting new adventure on the number one rated soap, The Young and the Restless , and to clear up any rumors or misrepresentations that her LGBT fans might want to know, and to tease us with what to expect in her new role!
Advocate.com: Congratulations on your new role. You are stepping into a role that is a recast on the top rated soap. What are your feelings about it and your experience, so far, doing daytime?Clementine Ford: I am a lucky bitch! It's so nerve-wracking. It's like I felt on The L Word when I went into that core group who has been together forever. I was surprised because you hear horror stories about going in, and the intimidation of the group. I thought, "Well, this will never happen again," and then I get this job. I am nervous, but my friend, Y&R' s Greg Rikaart (Kevin), told me wonderful things about everyone on the show. And sure enough, everybody is great.
Being a sudser rookie, did your pal Greg Rikaart give you any soapy advice? He said, "Keep going! In soaps everyday is a new day." I have gotten one piece of advice from the cast. They told me it's going to be one of the hardest jobs I've ever had, especially, the first little while 'til I hit my stride. Once I hit my stride it will be fine.
Mac comes back during the wedding of her ex-Billy and Chloe. I do. What prompts her return is she has heard that her grandmother might be alive, and she wants to find out for herself. This has been someone who is so important in her life and she comes back, and that is the only agenda. The wedding is a huge surprise and shock for her.
Certain family DNA tests come out at the wedding. How does that affect Mac? Let's just say, the DNA test affect me in a way that any 25 or 26 year old in this situation would be affected. It's Katherine and Jill's DNA. Mac is Brock's daughter, who is Katherine's son. The DNA results that come back, and the love of my life who I thought was my cousin, is now married with a baby, and is not my cousin! Now, to come back and to see that there is a wedding, and that you are now not actually cousins, begs the questions: "Do I run away? Do I try? Do I just try to exist in this world where this guy is inches away, but a hundred light years away?"
You are working with a daytime living legend, Jeanne Cooper as Katherine. What were your initial thoughts? I can honestly say that she is an incredible lady. God willing, I am that on it at her age. She is so on it, funny and so warm. I cannot say enough good things about her.
So, Mac being the humanitarian is still full of "good will" when she is confronted with her family? She was working in Darfur doing good deeds, which is hilarious, because my sister in real life was working in a Palestinian refuge camp in Jordan. So, my sister is the person I pretend to be, and she is my little sister. Mac is a genuinely good person and has the best of intentions.
Who have you got to work with so far on "Y&R"? I mostly have worked with Billy Miller (Billy), Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe), Jess Walton (Jill), Jeanne and Adrienne Frantz (Amber). One thing that I loved was some of my initial scenes with Jess and Jeanne. I could not remember the back-story, but all I had to do was look into their eyes and pay attention, and I knew immediately what the history was.
Do you have an idea of where your character will be heading for the next several months? I have heard inklings, but they are very protective of what is going to happen. I have heard three different possibilities.
But Mac will have romance? It's a soap. Hello!
On The L Word , Molly was a great character! How was your experience there? I had a great time and it changed my life. I think it's not that much different than the soap world. There are people that come up to you that surprise you, who watch the show and love it. There are fans that are obsessive and love it, and then there are people that say, "What's that?"
The L Word was groundbreaking at the time for television with an all-lesbian story. Did you feel that way about the show? I was excited to be working. In terms of it be 'groundbreaking,' I think in a way it's a shame. I don't think it should be 'groundbreaking'; it should not be made into a 'thing'. There should be gay couples on television and lesbian and transgender people on television. It should be something that is normal. It's exciting that it was groundbreaking, but now where do we go?
Did you receive comments from people or fans from your performances on The L Word ? I had people come up to me and say that it made a difference. Even people who are older than me would come up to me and tell me that to be a character, and come in to the story as someone who has a 'stick up her ass' about so many things and the lesbian issue, and then to see that change, was good for them. I do think it's difficult for a lot of women who have come from certain backgrounds who are expected to have a different life. It's not easy, and you don't know where to necessarily put things, and you are not sure and a little timid. I had a lot of people coming up to me telling me that it was nice for them to see someone going through that struggle and figuring their way.
Was there more pressure for you to succeed in show biz, since your mom was famous? Did you have any misgivings when you made the choice to be an actress? I think it kind of bit me in the ass later, because her name got me in the door at a lot of places and I was not ready. Then, I started working and I realized, "You know people will make comparisons, whether you like it or not." It's really hard, and you kind of have to step back and go, "Am I following my path or am I following their path?" I think with time it's been my path. My career and my life are very different. So, I kind of got over that hump real quick.
What did your mom say when you landed the role on Y&R ? She was thrilled! My mom has never watched the show that I know of. I don't think she was a big soap person, but growing up, my step-mom and I used to watch the ABC Soaps: All My Children , One Life to Live and General Hospital . My mom very rarely watches TV. She is a movie person. She better start watching now!
When you finally got to step foot on the CBS soundstage of Y&R , what happened? I kind of got on set and looked around and went, "Oh, My God! I know who all of you are." It was exciting! Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki) and Peter Bergman (Jack) were there. And to all of those actors I was like, "Hey, you, and you and you! I totally know you!"
Let's clear the air on the interview that ran recently with Diva UK Magazine , in which the cover said, "Clementine Ford Comes Out". In the piece, it sort of intimated you came out and that you had an affair with your co-star of The L Word , Kate Moening. Then you did an interview with TV Guide Magazine where you attempted to clarify. It sort of has given you some pushback from fans. Can you tell us what happened? It's funny. I was having kind of rough day. My best friend sent me a text saying, "You have to see this." So, I went online to see this link and I read the comments and I go, "They hate me!" When I did the TV Guide interview, I was angry because there is the whole perception now that I came out and I went back in. And what upset me was I felt that because I did not 'come out' in that interview, I felt it was unfair to fans that bought the magazine expecting to get a tearful story that says, "I'm gay." I thought it was misleading, and now because I was upset by that cover, I am apparently back in the closet and people hate me.
But, can you understand how some people may have been confused when in a magazine piece you are quoted like that? There are people who get it, and get what my original meaning was. Just as I was talking about storylines being a non-issue on The L Word ; it should just be these people are gay and it's part of life. I think with that article, and what came across as ambiguity, was actually my attempt at making it a non-issue. Look, I am gay, and I just wanted there not to be this big emphasis on it.
What about the reported, "fling?" I would never!
Any of your L Word co-stars weigh in on your new soap role? I talk to Kate Moening all the time, and she was the first person I told. She told me congratulations.
Growing up in show business, do you think it gave you a different perspective on life? I am one of those people who are really lucky. I have no shame about that at all, and I had a really great time. Yes, my mom is an actress and I grew up in Los Angeles. There are a lot of things I did that most of the people don't get to see and people to meet, but at the same time, I was born in Memphis, Tennessee. My other side of the family is very Irish-Catholic. My father is a bartender, and my step-mom is a nurse. For me, I grew up in the best of both worlds, with a sense of value and a sense of being grounded, as well as traveling all over the world and doing incredible things.
Proposition 8 has been such a hot button since the election in November. Do you think there is a message that is missing to the culture of how gay relationships are portrayed in the media that could change the mainstream perception of equality for all? We have all heard it, where people have coined the phrase, "straight-marriage", and that is a big thing for me. It's like, "Why is it different? Get over it." If you don't want to have a gay marriage, don't have one. Don't marry someone of the same sex, but let me do it if I want to! Ellen and Portia became poster children for gay marriage because we don't have a lot of people that are representing this. There are still those walls, and there are those people who say, "Hide who you are. Be careful. Don't be too gay." I think a lot of that, and the media feeding into that, is part of the reason that Prop. 8 passed.
In closing, on Y&R what can we look forward to from Mac? Two teases come to mind: Billy or Chloe, which one does she choose? Will Mac stay in Genoa City, or does she go? Stay tunedaEUR|.
Clementine Sets the
Record "Straight"
